4 Episodes
Aired between 2nd September 1978 and 23rd September 1978
Written by Robert Holmes
Produced by Graham Williams
Directed by George Spenton-Foster
Synopsis
Travelling through space and time with only his trusty dog, K9 MkII, the Doctor is summoned by a powerful entity known as the White Guardian.
He tells the Doctor that his opposite, the Black Guardian is threatening to overthrow the delicate balance of the universal values of order and chaos. To restore this balance, the White Guardian tasks the Doctor with seeking and retrieving the six segments of the Key to Time, which are not only scattered across the cosmos, but also disguised as objects familiar to their environment.
To help the Doctor in his quest, the White Guardian sends word to Gallifrey who assign a freshly graduated Time-Lady: Romanadevoratrelundar.
Romana (as the Doctor likes to call her) is quite aloof and likes to psycho-analyse people. She thinks she has been assigned to help the doctor by the High Council of Gallifrey and has been given a divining rod to help her locate the segments of the key. The rod can also be plugged into the TARDIS console to provide co-ordinates for the next segment.
After much arguing, the pair get after the first segment of the key, landing on a primitive planet known as Ribos. After a lot of searching, they find the segment.
It's disguised as a precious stone known as Jethryck.
It turns out the Jethryk has been planted amongst the planets finest treasures by a couple of con-men, Garron and Unstoffe, trying to pose as businessmen to sell the primitive planet off to a warlord known as the Graff Vynda-K.
The con men's plan backfires and Garron is captured, with the Doctor and Romana getting mistaken as being part of it. Unstoffe manages to get away and is forced to hide with the Jethryk / key.
With the help of the city's oracle, the Graff and his soldiers manage to track down Unstoffe to the catacombs.
The oracle predicts that all but one dies in there, and the Graff does his utmost to ensure it's him that survives. In the end, his men are killed by a cave in and he is blown up by a bomb that's planted on him.
The Doctor and Romana leave Garron and Unstoffe on the planet and the Doctor manages to use slight of hand to get the Jethryk off Garron before they take off.
Once inside the TARDIS, Romana touches the stone and it turns into the first segment of the key before they set off for the next segment.
Trivia
- Before the filming of this series, Tom Baker was attacked by a dog that jumped up and bit him, catching his lip. The wound is far more visible in the next story, but there's occasions in this when it's there
- The Key to Time was Producer, Graham Williams' idea. He'd wanted to do it since he started, and now was the perfect time. He asked Liz Sladen if she wanted to come back, but she was still hesitant so he decided to go for something totally different and worked up a concept for Romana.
- This was Stuart Fell's last outing in a Doctor Who monster costume. He played the Schrivenzale that is kept in the treasury.
- Between filming this, Tom was hanging out a lot with Eric Morecambe. Read "The Review" for why this is significant.
The Review
The Ribos Operation was the start of something big. The Jon Pertwee era saw the show re-designed and re-invigorated for a new audience. The provision of an epic story arc was to be an attempt to do something similar.
The whole premise is built around powerful beings assigning the Doctor a quest, but forgive me if I find the White Guardian somewhat lacklustre. There's nothing there to help me believe this creature has god-like powers. He interrupts the TARDIS in flight. So what? Lots of things have done that in recent stories. My guess is that this scene was filmed after the bulk of stuff on Ribos, so the budget was exhausted, but even so, I think that had the White Guardian appeared to any of the Doctor's before him, we'd have at least got some glam-rock style colour effects, or something like it.
The inclusion of Romana is quite a good thing however, it's been a long while since the days of Liz Shaw, with the Doctor having an intellectual equal, and the way that the Producer has made her very smart but very naive is a great trick, because she can know a lot of stuff when she needs to, but still ask questions to help give the audience a point of reference without it looking daft. Romana's relationship with the Doctor is enjoyable to watch, and brings an element of light humour to the show which is pleasing for a while, although I personally feel that Tom Baker does try to put in too many laughs per minute in the first couple of episodes, until it ends up feeling like he's regenerated into Eric Morecambe. Thankfully, he settles down from episode 3 and starts selling the plot to us as a serious situation.
The story as a whole is great. As with all the best Doctor Who stories, the Ribos Operation has a rich setting, and is developed brilliantly. The planet isn't just a cardboard cut out with one environmental condition (alright we only see it snowing in the story, but it does explain that the planet goes through half a year of snow, then half a year of sunshine). Ribos has a culture, MULTIPLE cities, history and religion. This is an epic fantasy neatly packaged and never feeling like we're force fed massive info dumps.
The Graff is a superb character also. Yes, he's a villain wanting conquest, but Paul Seed who played him, helps to really bring the character to life, assisted by a good backstory that almost shows him more as a victim.
One of the jewels in the crown of this story is the interaction between Unstoffe and Binro the heretic. This is a lovely little arc that isn't needed for the story, but it provides a great bit of pathos, and a path of redemption for the kind heart'ed crook, Unstoffe.
Overall, the Ribos Operation is a great little story with a fantastic world built into it, an unusual plot, good characters and in places very funny. The only thing that lets it down is that it fails to sell the threats to us. I wasn't convinced that the Graff would really hurt you, more bore you to death with tales of how hard his life has been and the many wars he's been in; and as for the rubber-footed Shrivenzale....
Rating
8 out of 10
Rewatchability Factor
7 out of 10
